Eur. J. Entomol. 94 (3): 393-407, 1997
Nuclear bodies from cricket and mealworm oocytes contain splicing factors of pre-mRNA
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A comparison of nuclear structures of the germinal vesicles from an insect with panoistic ovarioles (cricket Acheta domesticus) with that of an insect with meroistic ovarioles (mealworm Tenebrio molitor) was carried out. Immunocytochemistry revealed that spheres from cricket oocyte nuclei contained small nuclear RNP (snRNP) and fibrillarin - protein which may be involved in pre-rRNA processing. Additionally, coilin-related protein was revealed in cricket spheres. In the mealworm germinal vesicles, two types of nuclear bodies containing snRNP were identified. Only one of these types of nuclear bodies contained SC35 splicing factor. In situ, hybridization identified snRNAs U1, U2 and U6 in germinal vesicles of the mealworm and in spheres and karyoplasm of the cricket. After a prolonged incubation of ovaries in medium containing 3H-uridine, the germinal vesicles were labeled; spheres of the cricket and nuclear bodies of the mealworm remained unlabeled. These results indicate that homology exists between spheres and nuclear bodies of insect germinal vesicles and that these are homologous to the coiled bodies of somatic cell nuclei and spheres of amphibian oocyte nuclei.
Keywords: Gryllidae, Acheta domesticus, Tenebrionidae, Tenebrio molitor, oocytes, nuclear bodies, spheres, splicing factors
Accepted: January 3, 1997; Published: July 30, 1997 Show citation
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